I'm Loving the VFF's

I've been putting some serious miles in with my Vibram FiveFinger Flow's and let me tell you, buyers remorse has NOT kicked in. Actually, I find myself looking forward to future purchases of VFFs. For a nearly 200lb manchild to run barefooted on cement is no easy feat for regular athletic shoes, one would also suspect that it would be twice as hard as running it barefoot. However, this is not true. I've found it's actually peaceful and quite easy to run in them.

I went for another hour long run in my gorilla feet, frog feet, or ninja shoes (as my athletes call them) and let me tell you, it's a much different run. Christopher McDougall's book "Born to Run" thoroughly details the history of running shoes, orthotics, and different opinions from running coaches to doctors. Ultimately he explained how we were born with god's natural and perfect gift of feet was (and always had been) meant to be barefooted.

One thing you might experience while running barefoot is some painful calves after your run. This is to be expected because your running gait will dramaticly change. No longer will you be overstriding and landing on your heal. While running barefoot your gait will be much shorter and you'll be landing on the spongy sole and ball of your feet, the location nature first intended us to land on.

Seriously, I have probably over-blogged about Vibram FiveFinger's and the book "Born to Run", but do yourself a favor and atleast pick up the book. I'm not even a runner (at all) but I loved this book from front to cover. It's not a boring book that details running biomechanics but rather it's an awesome book filled with vivid stories, philosophies and humorous scenarios and tales about running lore. Check it out immediately. You will not be disappointed.